Custer County businesses make a living and give back to community
BROKEN BOW & SARGENT - Making a living in Custer County is top on the list for all who call this county home. Two family ran businesses, Chapins Furniture & Decorating and Sargent Pack, LLC have been going strong in Custer County for 52 and 43 years, respectively.
The Chapins and Osborns have carved out businesses in the good times and hard times. They have contributed to each of their communities so the community can keep looking forward.
Gene and Lola Chapin
purchased the Davis Paint Store in 1971. It has evolved over time to meet the changing needs and wants of their customers. They have literally risen from the ashes as their building and all contents were lost in the April 1, 2007 fire.
Both Gene Chapin and Tom Osborn have something in common. Before they embarked on their business ventures, they each grew up in the meat packing business. They worked in the meat department at their local grocery store!
For Chapin, being called over a lunch hour and told Davis Paint was selling and “to get money together,” was how the process of buying the business started
With their son, Grant, just 20 days from being born on Jan. 1, 1971, they took over the business. Back then, paint, a large in-stock inventory of wallpaper, glass store fronts and window glass repair were their primary business.
Anyone who knows the business today would see a different offering. “You change with what you need to do,” stated Lola Chapin about what their store offers to customers.
Today, paint and, more particularly, Annie Sloan chalk paint, mattresses, furniture, decorating items, flooring of all types, decorating services, gifts and clothing from Square One Boutique, can all be found at the 846 South E Street store. Along with Gene and Lola and Connie Pearson, who has been assisting customers with decorating design help for all areas of the home for the past 45 years.
When the fire struck the south side of the Square in 2007, Chapin’s Furniture had been in business for 36 years. Lola had also opened Square One, at the other end of the block, and had been offering women’s fashions for 13 years. Everything burned.
“It just knocked the socks right off you,” Lola stated. “We kicked it into high gear. Gene organized all the rebuilding, that is who he is.”
Lola praised so many local businesses and people for stepping up to help after the fire. With the Broken Bow prom the night before, she needed a place for tuxedo return. The people at Kids Kloset were quick to call to help along with other people
who had a building to go into. Able to salvage only a computer and the accounts receivable from the office, the Chapins started over.
Clean up of the south side was completed; new construction began and in January of 2008, just eight months later, they moved into their new building where shoppers have been coming for the past 16 years now.
Many individuals after 52 years in business have retired, but Gene and Lola enjoy their work and their customers. Lola said, “Gene always says, ‘You get up each morning, throw a pig across the fence and you can always throw the pig across the fence!’” in reference to keeping active and keeping on the go.
In good times and in hard times, Gene and Lola found a way to keep the business going. Sometimes that meant Lola
See
At right, keeping with a tradition in the family, Bailey Schneider, Micky’s daughter, helps to fish jeternice (yee-ter-neatza) out of the cooling tank. Jeternice is a Bohemain bread sausage, that Sargent Packing, LLC makes once a year. Micky describes it as savory and unique flavor. It is sold by the ring while supply lasts.
took other jobs around town. Most notably she was the Chamber director for five years. Besides the many hours with the business, both believe in order for a community to look forward, you need to do your part.
After the South Side Fire, Gene said he was amazed that the fire trucks did not run out of water. Gene has been a member of the Broken Bow Fire Department for the past 45 years. He also worked on the Utility Board to make sure the city was keeping up with the demands for water.
Lola finds happiness and joy with her love for music as choir director with the United Methodist Church. Music comes naturally to her side of the family. Lola and her brothers have given their talents to the church for many years.
Lola has also volunteered her time on the Broken Bow Housing Authority. “You know, we keep looking at our fiveyear plan,” she stated. They are always making sure the community moves forward.
While Chapins were growing their business in Broken Bow, in the north part of Custer County, the Osborn family moved to Sargent and began their business.
In 1980, Tom and Linda Osborn moved their young growing family to Sargent from Ord when Sargent Packing went up for sale. Tom was an experienced meat cutter, having worked at several grocery stores since high school. This seemed like a good opportunity for the family.
After more than 40 years, the mom-and-pop shop is still running with the Osborns’ son, Mike, as boss and his sister, Micky Schneider, as a valued employee.
Micky recalls a meal with the family before the move to Sargent. Hot dogs were on the menu and Mike said, “I would really like to learn to make hot dogs.” And that was the day the kids learned their fate was to move to Custer County.
Mike and Micky, along with their three younger sisters, spent many days doing their part to help in the new business venture.
At first the tasks were small; stamping the packages of meat, sweeping the floors and bagging meat sticks and jerky. Eventually the kids worked side by side in the processing room with their parents. Mike even started helping butcher.
When Mike and Micky graduated high school, they had no plans to return to Sargent and the family business. Mike joined the Army Reserve and then attended college in Lincoln. Micky went to college for Natural Resource Science. But eventually life led them back to their roots in Sargent and Sargent Packing.
You can’t help but get involved in a small town. Mike and his wife, Jan have, over the years, been active with the fair board, Chamber of Commerce, Church of Christ and Pee Wee wrestling. Mike gives the credit of community involvement to Jan who teaches business at Sargent High School for 19 years and is the FBLA advisor.
Micky said, “Mike is Jan’s third arm,” always helping with school activities.
Micky has been on the Sargent City Council for over a decade. Admitting to a learning curve in the beginning years, she now offers her time and the education she has to work with Sargent’s need to move forward.
“We have to pay it forward and be able to maintain what we have before our town can grow,” Micky stated about her work on the council.
Being a family run business is “a blessing and a curse,” Mike said, meaning if the family has an event or a trip together it is a challenge to keep the business open. But Mike is faithfully working hard to continue his parents’ legacy of quality products and service.
And now the third generation has joined this family tradition. Mike’s son-in-law, Jackson Taylor, is now an essential part of the operation at Sargent Packing. Mike hopes to keep the business in the family.
Both families, the Chapins and the Osborns, have made a living in each of their Custer County communities while raising their families, growing their business and helping their communities look forward. Lola said, “Your community needs good people to keep moving forward, good minds and good values.”